Tunesian Parure.
As far as I remember Queen Fabiola could not attend in the years sixties the State Visit from President Bourguiba to Belgium and Princess Paola de Liège was the first Lady.
Was it for one of her five miscarriages ?
Did she received at that moment her parure ??

[...]
King Baudouin showered his beloved queen with many jewels during their life together, but I think the very elaborate pieces like that magnificent parure of emeralds came from Heads-of-State during overseas visits.
[....]

Christophe Vachaudez, an expert who wrote a book on the Belgian royal jewels, described these as "green stones polished as cabochon", hinting that these are "just" semi-precious stones and not at all emeralds. The difference between emeralds and Queen Fabiola's "green stones" are clear:

And the green stones on her tiara are they emeralds ?Where are they coming from ??
She received this tiara with red stones , wore it also with green stones (emerald?) and finally with aigue marines.

The Court Jeweller says the Spanish tiara was worn with rubies, emeralds and aquamarines. Hopefully Mathilde will wear it again soon (maybe on her state visit to the Netherlands ?) and we will get the chance to look at the gems more closely once more.

Christophe Vachaudez, an expert who wrote a book on the Belgian royal jewels, described these as "green stones polished as cabochon", hinting that these are "just" semi-precious stones and not at all emeralds. The difference between emeralds and Queen Fabiola's "green stones" are clear:

It is clear why Christophe Vachaudez remained careful. It does not look like emeralds at all.

I love it that apparently Baudouin bought the set for Fabiola. He loved her so much. I love the Cabochon green stones as well - so different - and they look just as great in this setting. She always varied up her jewelry so well as brooches, hair pieces, necklaces, tiaras, etc.

Marengo is right Princess Lilian's gave her Brooch as engagement present to Donna Fabiola.
Princess Lilian gave the year before half moon with pearl earrings to Donna Paola as engagement present . She wore them her whole life!

The Spanish tiara originally had two set's of coloured stones, red and green. They were thought to be rubies and emeralds, but at least one of the sets was later found out to be paste. Now some people say that Fabiola stopped wearing these stones then. Other sources tell the Franco, on being informed about this, replaced them with real stones.

The story goes that the original owner, the dukes of Medinaceli, had loaned this tiara to a monastry, where it adorned the head of a madonna statue. There seems to have been some confusion over the ownership, it seems the nuns saw it as a gift. So they sold the coloured stones and replaced them with paste. When the Medinaceli reclaimed the tiara, nobody remembered that the stones were fake, it was sold like that to Franco.

But the lighting [in photographs] make it impossible to judge.. for example the stones in the Cambridge necklace, [certainly Emeralds] look VERY like the cabouchons in Queen Fabiolas necklace..

When Christophe Vachaudez, the author of this book, does not say that it are emeralds, we may be sure they are not. (If these were real emeralds, Queen Fabiola would have had stunningly BIG equally sized oval cabochon emeralds, worth a mega fortune. So we may assume M Vachaudez is sure about that).

Queen Anne-Marie of the Hellenes, look how see-through and vibrant her emeralds are (picture)

The Spanish tiara originally had two set's of coloured stones, red and green. They were thought to be rubies and emeralds, but at least one of the sets was later found out to be paste. Now some people say that Fabiola stopped wearing these stones then. Other sources tell the Franco, on being informed about this, replaced them with real stones.

The story goes that the original owner, the dukes of Medinaceli, had loaned this tiara to a monastry, where it adorned the head of a madonna statue. There seems to have been some confusion over the ownership, it seems the nuns saw it as a gift. So they sold the coloured stones and replaced them with paste. When the Medinaceli reclaimed the tiara, nobody remembered that the stones were fake, it was sold like that to Franco.

As far as I know, the fake set was replaced with real stones. Most sources on the web cite that version,

As far as I know, the fake set was replaced with real stones. Most sources on the web cite that version,

That is also the version that I believe to be true. Franco certainly wouldn't want anybody to think that he was stingy and giving fake presents. He was honour bound to replace the stones, and so he did. But the other version, that the stones are still fake, is still circling around. Probably it was fed by the fact the Fabiola only wore the aquamarines in her later years.

That is also the version that I believe to be true. Franco certainly wouldn't want anybody to think that he was stingy and giving fake presents. He was honour bound to replace the stones, and so he did. But the other version, that the stones are still fake, is still circling around. Probably it was fed by the fact the Fabiola only wore the aquamarines in her later years.

I think the aquamarines where a gift from King Baudouin. Probably this is the reasson she favoured them.

Duc et Pair, the Cambridge stones ARE Emeralds too.. but they are not 'see-through' either..

I have no any doubt, not the slightest milligram, that the Cambridge emeralds are 100% the very real stuff. I have every doubt, with expert Christophe Vachaudez on front, that the big green stones in Queen Fabiola's necklace are emeralds. That is the difference.

The reason Vachaudez can't tell what the stones are, is that he hasn't been given the information by court, hasn't found any information on the green stones in an archive or an official document and hasn't seen the stones himself to judge.

I doubt very much that they are emeralds. A set of emeralds this size must be worth a large fortune and would certainly be the main set of a personal collection. Apart from the Quatari and Persian jewels it would probably be the most valuable & expensive post-war royal jewel acquisition by any royal house.

Although king Baudouin gave his wife some lovely jewels I doubt he could & was willing to spare several millions to buy them. It would be very much out of character as the couple was modest and often preferred to donate money to religious projects. Considering the sum would be gigantic if the stones are emeralds, I also doubt that king Baudouin would buy them on a whim while he was visiting Tunesia for 3 days. Even rich people tend to think twice before they spend a few million.

Those are very valid remarks, Marengo. But the fact is we know next to nothing about this parure: where and when was it bought exactly, what stones is it made of and even: of which pieces does it consist? Is there more than a necklace and a pair of earrings? So maybe we shoudn't just assume things... Time will tell

Although king Baudouin gave his wife some lovely jewels I doubt he could & was willing to spare several millions to buy them. It would be very much out of character as the couple was modest and often preferred to donate money to religious projects. Considering the sum would be gigantic if the stones are emeralds, I also doubt that king Baudouin would buy them on a whim while he was visiting Tunesia for 3 days. Even rich people tend to think twice before they spend a few million.

I totally agree. And really, what difference does it make if they're not emeralds? Not one hill of beans.